Make India Asbestos Free

Journal of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI). Asbestos Free India campaign of BANI is inspired by trade union movement and right to health campaign. BANI has been working since 2000. It works with peoples movements, doctors, researchers and activists besides trade unions, human rights, environmental, consumer and public health groups. BANI demands criminal liability for companies and medico-legal remedy for victims. For Details: krishnagreen@gmail.com

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Why not Ban Asbestos in Bihar

Press Release

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must come to Chainpur-Bishunpur for dialogue

Movement to continue till written orders for closure of asbestos plant is issued

Anti-people SEZ, rejected in Bihar, Why not Ban Asbestos in Bihar as well

Marwan, Muzaffarpur, 8th February, 2011: Bihar Chief Minister has been ignoring the peoples’ movement underway for the last six months in Muzaffarpur’s Chainpur-Bishunpur and is attempting to divert the Movement Against Asbestos which is getting national support. Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jansangarsh Committee expresses its disapproval for Chief Minister’s irresponsible statement saying that the state government has not given approval to it. This statement is misleading.

The Committee demands that the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), the State Pollution Control Board and the Union Environment Ministry should rescind its approval and environmental clearance given to the Balmukund Cement & Roofing Ltd. The Chief Minister has sent back SIPB’s proposal for asbestos factories, he has not cancelled the clearance of the killer plant as yet.

The Committee declares that until and unless the Chief Minister visits Chainpur-Bishunpur and issues a written order stopping the construction of the proposed white asbestos based factory, the agitation against Balmukund’s factory will continue. Nitish Kumar’s philosophical appeal to the national and international intellectuals to debate ban on asbestos in India is insincere because he has not announced reforms in his industrial policy that currently promotes killer factories.

Although Bihar Government’s text books of Biology and Chemistry taught in 10th and 12th class reveal that asbestos is cancer causing, the Chief Minister must reply as to why hazardous asbestos based plants should be established in Bihar for the profit of the capitalists.

It is noteworthy that Bihar Government banned anti-people and anti-agriculture Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the state although it is being implemented in the whole country. If anti-farmer SEZ can be banned in the state, why should Nitish Kumar not ban asbestos which is prohibited in over 55 countries? In such a backdrop, the statement of Bihar State Council of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is misplaced and unacceptable. While all the asbestos factories in the country must be phased out, the future use of asbestos must be eliminated to begin with, contrary to what CII irrationally contends. It has come to notice that some official of Bihar Industries Association has anonymously been spreading rumours in support of myopic and brutal industrialization.

The Committee suggests that instead of coming under the influence of the propaganda of Chrysotile Asbestos Cement Manufacturers Association, it would be better for the Chief Minister to initiate a dialogue with villagers, doctors and environmentalists by giving priority to the public health on the basis of scientific facts.

It has been reported in the media that the Chief Minister respects the sentiments of the people. If he is indeed sensitive to people’s concerns then he should take action against those company officials and police persons who are responsible for firing and lathi charge on the peaceful dharna on 13th December, 2010, 9th January, 2011 and 22nd January 2011.

Even a government elected with majority of votes cannot make women victims of police repression, bullets and tear gas. Such action of a democratic-socialist government cannot be permitted. The Committee demands that Nitish Kumar should come to Chainpur-Bishunpur to establish a direct conversation with the injured women. You should come from Patna to Chainpur for a dialogue. In the aftermath of police repression and unilateral action against Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jansangharsh Committee conveners (Tarkeshwar Giri and Kumud Ram), personal intervention from Nitish Kumar is a necessary alternative.

Health Matters

Ban on Asbestos is a Must

A study in a peer-reviewed journal had earlier estimated that there could be more than 6,000 workers affected by asbestosis (an untreatable lung ailment) and another 600 suffering at the minimum from asbestosis-related lung cancer in India at present. Occupational cancer from asbestos, the disease caused by emissions at the work place, poses an increasingly serious health problem. But the subject has attracted relatively little attention from industry, labour, public health bodies or the medical profession. Asbestos is one of the single largest sources of occupational cancer. Indian polticians are acting as if they are bonded workers of asbestos industry.

World Trade Center, New York collapsed Thousands of tons of asbestos became airborne.

Back in 1981, there was research coming out that Asbestos was cancer causing and this ad was in rebuttal to that research touting the benefits of using Asbestos. The text over the Twin Towers states, "When the Fire Alarm Went Off, It Took Two Hours to Evacuate New York's World Trade Center." I do not need to remind anyone of the images of September 11th and this ad. The copy below the ad goes on to mention all of the places that Asbestos was used in the World Trade Center. I can not not think of all of the innocent victims in the area that were exposed to all of the dust, smoke and inherent asbestos that was in the air after the buildings collapsed. The cloud of smoke went across the entire city and potentially exposed hundreds of thousands of individuals to asbestos. Hopefully there can be a cure or treatment for Mesothelioma before all of these potential victims are diagnosed.

Ban Use of Asbestos Products

Apex Court allocates meagre compensation for asbetsos victims

In 1995, the Supreme Court of India fixed Rs 1 lakh compensation amount and identified National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) as the final authority to certify asbestosis cases. Compensations are given through the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Two workers in Ahmedabad Electricity Company diagnosed as having asbestosis by NIOH have been compensated by Gujarat High Court. Twenty-five workers in asbestos jointing and packing industry at Mumbai were compensated by the Special medical board of ESIC. The court ruled that the industrial units must maintain a health record of every worker up to a minimum period of 40 years; insure workers under the Employees State Insurance Act or Workmen’s Compensation Act and give health coverage to every worker.

Asbestos Victims

Every day estimated 30 deaths in India is under way due to the ongoing trade and use of white asbestos. 'Asbestos' in Greek means 'indestructible'. Greeks called asbestos the 'magic mineral'. Asbestos is a generic term, referring usually to six kinds of naturally occuring mineral fibres. Of these six, three are used more commonly. Chrysotile is the most common, accounts for almost 90 per cent of the asbestos used in the industry, but it is not unusual to encounter Amosite or Crocidolite as well. Though Crocidolite asbestos is banned in India, it can still be found in old insulation material, old ships that come from other countries for wrecking in India. All types of asbestos tend to break into very tiny fibre, almost microscopic. In fact, some of them may be up to 700 times smaller than human hair. Because of their small size, once released into the air, they may stay suspended in the air for hours or even days. Asbestos fibres are virtually indestructible. They are resistant to chemicals and heat, and are very stable in the environment. They do not evaporate into air or dissolve in water, and they do not break down over time. Because of its high durability and with tensile strength asbestos has been widely used inconstruction and insulation materials - it has been used in over 3,000 different products. Where do we use it? In India, asbestos is used in manufacture of pressure and non pressure pipes used for water supply, sewage, irrigation and drainage system in urban and rural areas, asbestos textiles, laminated products, tape, gland packing, packing ropes, brake lining and jointing used in core sector industries such as automobile, heavy equipment, petro-chemicals, nuclear power plants, fertilizers, thermal power plants, transportation, defence.

Vladimir Putin government set up a panel of experts to give an opinion on a possible Russian asbestos ban. The panel’s report gave an impassioned defence of asbestos use. Dr Izmerov gave a presentation on "Chrysotile. Russian Experience in Occupational Health" at the International Conference on Chrysotile in Montreal during May 23 - 24, 2006. Russia exported 152, 820 MT of chrysotile asbestos to India in 2006.